Art and political heritage come together to mark the official opening of the refurbished George Forbes Memorial Library in Lincoln University’s Ivey hall, on 22 August.
The library, named for former Prime Minister George Forbes, a north Canterbury farmer and Member of Parliament for Hurunui, who held office from 1930-35, is at the heart of the Lincoln University campus. A recently completed two-stage refurbishment programme has opened up new floor space, provided state-of-the-art information retrieval facilities, and added extensive study and computer areas, two teaching labs and an information commons (known as the iZone), all aimed at enhancing the University’s services to students.
The official opening will be a VIP occasion attended by family descendants of Prime Minister George Forbes, University Council members, senior managers, students’ association executive members and representatives of libraries from throughout the region.
The centrepiece of the official opening will be the presentation of a painting to the University, gifted by noted New Zealand painter Maurie Angelo, who is a Lincoln alumnus and past staff member of the University’s Landscape Architecture Group.
The presentation will be introduced by fellow New Zealand painter Don Peebles, a former Head of the Painting Department at the University of Canterbury’s School of Fine Arts and an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit awarded for services to art.
The painting presentation also signals the start of an exhibition of works by Angelo which includes works reflecting his thoughts on New Zealand soldiers in wartime Italy and the Apennine mountains where he has spent much time painting.
The exhibition in Lincoln University’s George Forbes Memorial Library is open to the public from 23 August until 10 September.
Angelo holds a Fine Arts Diploma from the University of Canterbury and a Postgraduate Diploma in Landscape Architecture from Lincoln University. He was an Assistant Lecturer in Landscape Architecture at Lincoln University in the early 1990s, dividing his time with a landscape architecture practice in Burkes Pass and the pursuit of painting in New Zealand and abroad. He has exhibited regularly in New Zealand and overseas for the past 40 years with many of his works reflecting a long love affair with the Mackenzie Country.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
Ian Collins, Journalist
Lincoln University, Canterbury
Tel: 64 3 325 2811 ext 8549
Email: Ian Collins